LA wildfires: Mudslides, floods hit fire zones as Donald Trump slams ‘fake environmental’ argument
Donald Trump has urged Californians to “enjoy the water” that he claims is now flowing abundantly to the wildfire prone state which is now on flood watch.
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US President Donald Trump claims to have ended the fire crisis in California, taking to Truth Social overnight to proclaim:
“The United States Military just entered the Great State of California and, under Emergency Powers, TURNED ON THE WATER flowing abundantly from the Pacific Northwest, and beyond. The days of putting a Fake Environmental argument, over the PEOPLE, are OVER. Enjoy the water, California!!!”
It comes as four Southern California Edison power lines over Eaton Canyon saw an electrical surge about the same time the destructive Eaton fire is believed to have ignited on January 7, the utility company told state regulators in a legal filing.
The incident occured just a few kilometres away from the suspected start of the fire and is currently under investigation with prosecutors saying the electrical fault is “not a coincidence.”
The Eaton fire destroyed the community of Altadena, wiping out 9,000 homes and killing 17.
FIRE RAVAGED LA HIT WITH MUDSLIDES, FLOODS
Torrential rainfall in Los Angeles has brought flooding and mudslides to areas devastated by the wildfires, shutting down highways and schools and leaving emergency vehicles stuck in the mud.
Scorched, ash-covered soil washed down the hillsides in the city’s burn-scarred areas, covering roads in mud with drivers trapped in their vehicles.
At least one fire truck battling the still-burning Palisades fire had to be rescued from the mud after the area’s first significant rainfall in months.
Emergency crews were forced to use a bulldozer to dig out four vehicles trapped on a highway in Woodland Hills just north of the fire.
Schools in fire-affected Malibu were closed and large sections of major freeways were shut down, local news channel ABC 7 reported.
FLASH FLOODS, TOXIC ASH WARNING
The rain was much needed, falling over devastated neighbourhoods most impacted by the LA wildfires, which killed at least 28 people and destroyed thousands of homes.
However, with the rain came the potential of flash flooding, dangerous mudslides and “toxic ash” run-off from the rain amid fears more evacuations may be necessary.
A flash-flood watch is in effect in fire-scarred areas, with meteorologists warning there was a danger of damaging “debris flows” in areas devastated by the wildfires.
“This is the worst-case scenario to prepare for,” Kristan Lund, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, told The Los Angeles Times.
A flood watch is in effect for the burned areas of the Eaton fire in the Altadena and Pasadena areas; the Palisades and Franklin fires in the Pacific Palisades and Malibu areas; the Hughes fire around Lake Castaic; and the Bridge fire in San Gabriel Mountains west and southwest of Wrightwood.
TRUMP VOWS TO REBUILD LA
In his recent tour of the California wildfires disaster zone, US President Donald Trump said he was stunned by the devastation in Los Angeles and vowed to work with local officials to rebuild and help victims.
“We have to work together to get this really worked out,” Mr Trump said, according to The Los Angeles Times.
“I don’t think you can realise how ... devastating it is until you see it,” he said.
The upscale neighbourhoods of Malibu and Pacific Palisades have long been considered prime real estate, with mountain and ocean views, and direct access to the highway and beachfront. Mr Trump, a former real estate developer, well knows the land value.
But a top Los Angeles realtor has a differing opinion that the area will ever return to its former status.
Former Million Dollar Listing reality personality and real estate agent Josh Altman believes that the devastating reality of charred ruinsand lapsed insurance policies facing many former homeowners will prevent rebuilding.
He predicts two thirds of Pacific Palisades residents will abandon their homesites and never return to rebuild their dwellings.
“They’re not staying away because they don’t want to return,” Mr Altman told Fox Business. “Of course they want to go back there. They’re not going to return because it’s simple math. I don’t believe they’re going to be able to afford to rebuild.”
Altman has sold many high-priced properties, including the most expensive recorded sale in Brentwood for US$65 million ($103 million).
“We’re talking about $1,000 per square foot to build in places like the Palisades and Malibu. With most people heavily underinsured and construction costs skyrocketing — lumber, steel, everything - it’s just not feasible for many,” he said.
Residents would also be dismayed by the destroyed vegetation and toxic chemicals now in the soil, as well as the eyesores of neighbours’ lots that may sit idle for an indefinite period of time.
“Getting a construction crew to show up at your site is going to be nearly impossible when 16,000 structures — homes, schools, commercial buildings - have been destroyed,” he said.
The Los Angeles County fires have torched more than 50,000 acres and destroyed more than 16,000 structures since January 7.
TRUMP RIPS INTO LA MAYOR
US President Donald Trump sparred with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass after touring wildfire damage in America’s second-largest city — demanding she use her “emergency powers” and allow residents to return to their homes to rebuild.
Mr Trump championed resident complaints about not being allowed to access their properties to clear debris and begin reconstruction while blaming local policies for causing the catastrophe estimated to cost US$250 billion.
“I just think you have to allow the people to go on their site and start the process tonight,” Mr Trump told the Democratic mayor during a roundtable discussion that included most of the area’s congressional delegation.
“And we will,” Ms Bass claimed, despite contradicting herself minutes later by saying residents would need to wait one week before being allowed back to their destroyed homes.
Mayor Bass has repeatedly cited safety concerns.
But the New York Post reported angry residents yelling at the mayor.
“We can’t even see our homes right now!” a local woman shouted.
Ms Bass said, “You will be able to go back soon. We think within a week.”
“A week is actually a long time, the way I look at it,” Mr Trump reprimanded the mayor.
“I watched hundreds of people standing in front of their lots, and they’re not allowed to go in,” Mr Trump said. “It’s all burned. It’s gone, it’s done. Nothing’s going to happen… The people are all over the place. They’re standing and they say… ‘We’re trying to get a permit’, and the permit is going to take them, everybody said, 18 months,” Mr Trump said.
“You have emergency powers, just like I do, and I’m exercising my emergency powers. You have to exercise them also,” President Trump scolded Mayor Bass.
“I did exercise them,” she insisted. “If individuals want to clear out their property, they can.”
The newly inaugurated president, who took office Monday, said that he will try to hasten rebuilding by waiving any federal permits and that he would pressure California officials to do the same.
“We’re going to essentially waive all federal permits,” Mr Trump said. “I’m going to override the Coastal Commission, I’m not going to let them get away with their antics.”
He blamed Democrats, including those present, for causing the crisis by failing to clear parched vegetation, inadequately supplying water to the area allowing fire hydrants to run dry, and creating a situation where many fire insurance providers pulled out of the region last year.
VIDEO OF MELANIA COMFORTING FIRE VICTIMS GOES VIRAL
A touching video of Melania Trump comforting victims of the LA wildfires in Serbo-Croatian has gone viral, showing another side of the First Lady.
In a video posted on X by user Johnny Maga, a 30-second clip shows Melania speaking to a Serbian woman in her own language, comforting her after the devastating loss of her house in the Palisades fires.
The clip has garnered 3.1 million views with online readers offering context that Melania would understand Serbian which is closely related to Slovenian, her language.
Melania Trump speaks Slovenian to victims of the Pacific Palisades fires in Los Angeles.
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) January 25, 2025
A historic moment. pic.twitter.com/G3DFXdPTfS
TRUMP THREATENS TO END US DISASTER RELIEF AGENCY
America’s federal disaster relief agency could be shut down under Donald Trump, with the US President musing about the controversial overhaul as he examined the devastation of a deadly hurricane in North Carolina and the Los Angeles wildfires.
Mr Trump also threatened to withhold aid from California unless the state changed its water policies and implemented voter ID laws for elections, a call that infuriated local leaders.
Amid the firestorm that destroyed thousands of properties in Los Angeles, the Republican had blamed California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom because he restricted water flows to protect a species of fish, leaving fire hydrants dry during the disaster.
Governor Newsom was not invited for the President’s tour of the devastated Pacific Palisades community but greeted Mr Trump at the airport, where the pair appeared to briefly put aside their differences.
“I appreciate the Governor coming out and meeting me,” the President said, describing the fire damage as “like you got hit by a bomb”.
“They are going to need a lot of help … Unless they don’t need any?”
Mr Newsom responded: “We’re going to need your support. We’re going to need your help. You were there for us during Covid, I don’t forget that, and I have all the expectations that we’ll be able to work together to get this speedy recovery.”
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Originally published as LA wildfires: Mudslides, floods hit fire zones as Donald Trump slams ‘fake environmental’ argument